4
news opinion
How useful is social media? If you’re a spotty kid looking for a girlfriend, it might be very useful. But if you are a business person, is it worth the effort?
Keeping profiles updated on Twitter, Facebook, etc, might be of benefit if your end- audience is the consumer. Useful for retailers, then, or anyone with a product to flog.
But if you are in the business- to-business field, is it really worth spending the time and effort on constantly adding information to social network sites? There are many consultants out there who encouraging companies to divert their resources to this task, but they would, wouldn’t they?
Social media is more than a fad, and it will still be here in 10 years time.
It will also
be all-pervasive in a social context. But that’s the key. It’s a social network, primarily, not a B2B network.
However, LinkedIn can be judged differently. It’s a network of business professionals and is growing at the rate of one member per second. More than a glorified address book, it is a channel in which business people can communicate with other business people.
Social media is said to be costing British industry £6.5 billion a year in lost productivity and questionable bandwidth useage. As one financial website wrote recently: ”It’s time to say it: social media for most financial institutions is basically a waste of time...” For financial institutions, read (LinkedIn apart)
...most businesses....
Do you agree? Email:
david@elcot.co.uk
David Murray Publisher
www.businessmag.co.uk
Lord Digby Jones, former director general of the CBI and a champion of British industry, is the special guest speaker at this year’s Thames Valley Business Magazine Awards.
Digby Jones, who is about to publish a book on “fixing Britain” is a former minister of state for UK Trade & Investment, and has been an adviser to Deloitte and Barclays. He is currently on advisory boards for HSBC and British Airways, among others.
Jones will give a forthright perspective on how UK plc can compete in the global economy, and will explain his role in promoting Britain across the world – a job that has seen him travel to over 70 overseas markets.
The awards gala evening will be held at the Royal Berkshire Conference Centre, Madejski Stadium, Reading, on Thursday November 17.
The event is once again expected to be a sell-out, so to reserve your table early, email Linda Morse at
linda@elcot.co.uk
Meanwhile, it’s now time to start compiling your entry for the Thames Valley Business Magazine Awards (TVBMA).
Categories this year are:
• Thames Valley Export Award – sponsored by DediPower
• SME of the Year Award – sponsored by James Cowper
• Best Company to Work For – sponsored by Vail Williams
• Business Management Team Award – sponsored by RBS
• Dynamic Business Award – sponsored by Deloitte • Business of the Year Award – sponsored by Pitmans
Last year’s winners included The Chemistry Group, Hansford Sensors, GCS Recruitment Specialists, Sophos plc, and Ella’s Kitchen.
Entries are open now until the end of September 2011. Entry is free. Judges meet in October to draw up a shortlist and up to six companies are chosen per category as awards finalists.
The dedicated awards site gives information on each category and entry details.
Details:
www.businessawards.co.uk
Digby Jones to speak at 2011 Awards
THAMES VALLEY BUSINESS MAGAZINE
AWARDS 2011
In the July/August issue of The Business Magazine
• Thames Valley 250 • International Trade • Focus on AIM • Corporate Recovery
For more details:
0118-9745308
sales@elcot.co.uk
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – JUNE 2011
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44